Houston Texans owner Bob McNair offered an apology Friday for telling other NFL owners that they needed to fight against national anthem protests, because owners can’t have “inmates running the prison.”

“I regret that I used that expression. I never meant to offend anyone and I was not referring to our players,” McNair said in a statement released by the Texans.

“I used a figure of speech that was never intended to be taken literally. I would never characterize our players or our league that way and I apologize to anyone who was offended by it,” the statement said.

ESPN had reported that during last week’s series of long, cantankerous meetings between owners and players about the anthem protests, McNair “stunned some in the room” when he said, “We can’t have the inmates running the prison.”

Although discussion continued, the remark was not forgotten.

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NFL executive Troy Vincent later told the owners he was offended by the use of the word “inmates.”

“Vincent said that in all his years of playing in the NFL — during which, he said, he had been called every name in the book, including the N-word — he never felt like an ‘inmate,” ESPN reported.